I'm on the verge of purchasing but am procrastinating here. Need some
questions answered by non-sales ppl who are familiar with the good and
the bad of the Jukebox FM recorder 20 (I know this is a tech board but
I'm not getting any answers anywhere else so thought I'd try here).

My options are either the Archos or a CD/MP3 player.
Archos
Pros
- massive storage; no need to carry cd's
- smaller size than CD/MP3 player
Cons
- battery life short before recharge
- worried about unknown battery drain problems
- cannot swap out batteries
- heavier than CD/MP3 player
- more than double the cost of a CD/MP3 player

I will be using it mainly for long distance cycle touring up to 8hrs a
day. All my MP3's are 192kbps.

Questions:
- How long can you really expect the battery to last on the JBFMR20
before recharge? (archos says 10-12hrs). Does it really last that long?
- How long would the battery last if I'm playing 192kbps MP3s? what
about only 128kbps MP3s? What about just the radio?
- How easy is the battery to replace if I have problems? ie only from
archos in france?
ANS: inside warrenty archos replace free of charge? Cannot purchase this
type of battery anywhere else?
- How long can I expect the Lith-ion batteries to last before complete
exhaustion?
- Is there any annoying copy protection nonsense to navigate, or is it
just drag and drop from harddrive then play?
- Does it come with a carry pouch so I can clip it onto my cycling pants?
- Getting a sense that the archos's arn't that reliable. ie many ppl
reporting problems. Is this true or is it no more than any other player
on the market? A case of you only hear from the ppl having problems perhaps?

I know upgrading is difficult: pay a lot, or do it yourself and void
warranty.

I've dismissed the iPod as too expensive and the Creative Nomad Jukebox
Zen NX looks good but no built-in radio at this stage (to be honest I
haven't looked at this one in detail yet - could be a possibility as it
has a removable and easily purchaseable battery, it's size and weight is
between the bulky Archos and the super-slim iPod, and it's not too
pricey). Perhaps now would be a good time to have a un-biased player
comparison discussion: JBFMR20 vs iPod 30 vs Nomad JB Zen NX 30?